Yoga/Flexibility

To be perfectly fair, this guy does look a little too dirty to take a bath. He might want to try a shower first.

Common Question Time!!!

As someone who is very inflexible and interested in yoga, I don’t think I’m flexible enough. It seems to me that until I get a little bit more hamstring flexibility (among other areas), I just wouldn’t be able to do most positions to how they are intended and am better off focusing on very basic stretches first. What would you recommend for the flexibility challenged?

Antranik Answer Time!!!

There’s a saying in yoga that you are considered a beginner for the first 10 years of your practice.

There may be some poses you can do ‘perfectly’ right off the bat. And then there are poses that may take months, years or decades until you can do them ‘perfectly.’

Yoga isn’t about performing that ‘textbook perfect’ pose. Every single person has their completely unique challenges and they are on their own journey/pathway. Yoga is more-so about this process of unwinding and participating in your journey.

Your form will look better with practice.

Your flexibility will come with practice.

You can’t expect to un-do years (or decades) of inflexibility in a couple yoga sessions.

Besides, it’s not just about flexibility. It’s about flexibility, strength and balance and holding this calm, cool collective expression of bliss while you’re practicing.

You may be inflexible but you may also be very strong and can hold certain poses without a hitch (often seen with men who weight-train).

Or you may be too flexible and not have the strength to hold the pose for more than a few seconds (often seen with women). Often times in this case they may look like they have perfect form (especially with the hip-openers) but are not engaging the proper muscles and actually cheating by hyper-extending their joints because the strength isn’t there to hold them together.

So again, yoga is more-so about the process of winding and not about performing the ‘textbook’ perfect pose.

But one thing is for sure, if you keep avoiding yoga because you’re not flexible enough… then when will you be flexible enough to do it?

Question: What would you recommend for the flexibility challenged?

Take the beginner-level classes. 🙂 The beginner-level classes are mostly comprised of the most basic asanas (poses) which are all very good basic stretches. Just do it, and keep at it! 🙂

You’re considered a beginner for the first 10 years of your yoga practice.

It’s a very humbling experience to say the least.

Yoga is about enjoying the gradual unfolding process and being aware of how each pose affects the relationship to your breathing. We tend to hold our breath when we are in a stressful situation. Letting go your tension and just maintaining the flow of breathing helps you get deeper into the pose and quiet your mind.

Everybody is different. There’s nothing “messed up” about your back just because it’s more rounded than others. It doesn’t matter that your heels can’t reach the ground when you’re in Downward Dog. I repeat, every-body is different and we are all on our own journey.

Your pose doesn’t have to look like the perfection in the drawings or books. Don’t worry about doing everything perfectly. There is no perfect pose. Alignment is important but yoga isn’t about reaching a perfect pose. Be gentle with yourself and don’t try to make your pose pretty.

How you treat yourself during your yoga session is how you treat yourself outside of it.

Do you rush through your session?

Do you immediately give up on a pose after 20 seconds once your feel some pain?

Do you have trouble going to a yoga class but once you do, you follow through with strong intentions?

Strive to be more ambidextrous from the get-go. You’ll notice one side of your body is sometimes stronger or more flexible than the other. The side that is weaker is the one that needs more time and attention! Note: Practicing ambidexterity is key to making you a better athlete in any sport!

Growth is infinite. No matter if it’s your tenth time doing downward-dog or your thousandth time, you will always discover something new about that stretch. In other words, you could get something out of each pose, no matter what level you are at. As you progress deeper into a pose, it transforms into a different stretch and this process is infinite.

When you’re in Warrior 1, if your left foot is in the front, your bum will tend to go out toward the left. Move it to the right, draw the inner thighs closer together and you’ll feel a new stretch (possibly the hip flexors). Conversely, if your right foot is the front one, move your butt to the left (toward the midline).

When you’re in Warrior 2, look over your fingers and SMILE! This makes any distressful pose become ridiculous.

Little earthquakes(tremors) are there to remind you that you are alive when you’re being pushed to the edge.

Be Here Now… On Vacation! You may have to do things later but when you’re doing your practice, don’t worry about it. Let your thoughts roll by as you just focus on your breath and stay in the present moment. Treat this hour or two in the studio as a vacation.

If you have a yoga mat, you might as well get a yoga strap!

Yoga Straps are a godsend for beginners.Yoga belts/straps (pictured on the right) allow you to grasp limbs that you couldn’t normally reach and help you hold the pose longer. You get much deeper into a pose and stretch much more effectively with them. I recommend Yoga Accessories 8′ Cotton Straps because they’re long enough for nearly everyone!

I’ve been very inflexible all my life and one of the things that really make it obvious, among other things, is that I can’t touch my toes without bending my knees. I’ve always wanted to be able to do that but lately my determination and motivation to be flexible has been very high. I mentioned this to a friend and he said he had the same problem until he started following this yoga video for 3 months and now he can bend so much that he could touch his chest to his knees!

He then asked me if I want the video and I said SURE! What better way to discover the joy of stretching than to follow a yoga video in the privacy of your own home, right?

The first time I followed this video, I did it for just 20 minutes and my cycling-legs felt incredibly good for the rest of the day and night. Since then I have done it a few times and I always feel no less than absolutely phenomenal afterwards. So I have uploaded the video so that everybody could have the opportunity to experience this kind of bliss.

Download this video so you could do yoga for free in the comfort of your home:

Video Troubleshooting: If you can’t play the video for any reason (QuickTime won’t play it) install the K-Lite Codec Pack which will literally allow you to play any movie file that you can find on the internet and includes a simple media player. This pack does not affect system performance either.

While the video downloads, read these tips to get better acquainted…

What is Yoga?

Yoga is the art of stretching that helps increase your strength, balance and flexibility. When you stretch your muscles and extend your bones, it places your awareness on those parts and the perception of your bodies position in space gets cultivated. Once you get into the groove of the exercise, it becomes a beautiful moving meditation that quiets your nervous system while simultaneously strengthening your entire being. For that reason, while it is not a religion, it is often used as a stepping stone toward experiencing spiritual enlightenment or inner peace. Yoga also means “to yoke” and is in reference to creating a union between the mind and body.

Make space around your room. It’s surprising how little room we actually have to lie down until we have to do it! Clean your room, move furniture and do whatever is necessary to be able to lie down and completely stretch your arms out to the side without hitting anything.

Be gentle with yourself. You don’t have to be as flexible as the instructor for the exercise to be effective. Just go as far as you safely can. This is a transformation process that will take time to undo the years of sitting around in one position. Even with that said, this video is great for beginners and I think most people will be able to follow it successfully. 🙂

Hold your pose, not your breath. Whenever you are in a stressful position, you will find yourself holding your breath or practicing shallow breathing. This is something people generally do in any tense situation as anxiety is a huge cause of unusual breathing patterns. If we are to maintain deep breathing during these tense situations, it helps to dissipate that tension and help us get comfortable. Try to remember this little tidbit and take deep breaths, for the rest of your day as well.

Incorporate yoga after exercise. Yoga is great to do alone but doing it after any workout session is magical. It helps stretch those muscles so good. I can’t even describe the elation and relaxation you feel after such a combo.

Well I hope these tips were useful… and if you enjoyed the video, please let me know because if I get positive feedback I will upload more videos in the coming weeks!

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